Is oil thicker than blood?

In a film, Delta Boys, an American, Andrew Berends, traces the Niger Delta struggles. He looks at the region’s challenges through the lense of former militant leader Ateke Tom. Berends, who was once held hostage by militants, writes from the position of one who could be described as an ‘insider’, having observed certain things first hand. But his documentary is generating heat as some Niger Deltans perceive it as derogatory. Victor Akande reports

It is the goose that lays the golden egg. Then something snapped, and the oil-rich Niger Delta erupted in violence. The agitations are yet to cease despite the amnesty for militants by the Yar’ Adua administration in 2009. The woes of the region were brought home when the militant groups across the creeks, started abducting expatriates, blowing up oil installations and seizing control of oil flow stations.

This action by the inhabitants (who are fishermen and farmers), over alleged neglect by government and its multinational partners disrupted the region’s economic activities.

Some film makers saw the potential of a motion picture, as a tool of international mediation and have captured the dramatic moments of the rebel camps, from various points of view.

Jeta Amata’s film Black Gold is one. It once made it to the film market segment of Cannes International Film Festival, France. It addresses the sufferings of inhabitants. The award-winning filmmaker was said to have fled the country at a time, claiming to have been threatened by a group which felt he did not make adequate consultation on the true state of affairs in the area.

Another effort is coming from Andrew Berends, an American documentary filmmaker, who was arrested and charged with spying in Nigeria in 2008, while working on a film about militants in the Niger Delta.

Whereas Amata’s account may have offended the supposed disgruntled leaders who have been playing politics with the people’s lives, as captured in the film, Berends’ film, on the other hand, may be seen to offend the advocates of the struggle. According to the American, the militants have called for greater distribution of wealth and jobs. But many feel that while the Niger Delta cause is just, the militants’ motives are not so pure.

Changing the film’s title from Black Gold, which seems to debase the essence of the struggle, to Black November, which underscores the bloody climax of the agitation, is a better way to present the story of Nigeria’s wealth tussle. But critics are querying the pay off in Berends’ movie that “oil is thicker than blood”. They reason that Berends’ position makes a mockery of the maxim: “Blood is thicker than water”.

Since negative stories from Africa and other developing countries constituted a chunk of the archival materials for the western media, the story of the struggle, beginning with the stunt pulled by pioneer armed Niger-Delta activist, Major Isaac Adaka Boro to the late Ken Saro Wiwa saga and the activities of militants who now enjoy amnesty, has continued to attract attention.

Berends, who hit the limelight during his 10-day ordeal and the campaign to secure his release, is obviously fulfilled at the moment: the resulting documentary, Delta Boys, was released online a few weeks ago.

The 55-minute film was largely shot inside the camp of the rebel leader, Ateke Tom, who at the time led 2,000 young men, claiming to fight for the people. A slice-of-life production with minimal narration and a smattering of news reports for context, Delta Boys doesn’t present alternate points of view, though Berends raises the question of whether the militants are in it for justice or just for money and violence.

Delta Boys follows the lives of militant “godfather” Ateke Tom and Chima, a 21-year-old who left home to join the fight. The film also shows life in a tiny fishing village caught in the crossfire of the conflict. Mama, a 22-year-old, struggles to give birth without access to modern medical care, while rebels launch raids from a camp across the river.

Berends said the struggle in the Niger Delta caught his attention, because of its relation to oil, a subject on which he had earlier shot two films in Iraq: “I had seen striking images of heavily armed militants moving throughout the creeks of the Niger Delta in speedboats, sabotaging flow-stations, blowing up pipelines, and kidnapping foreign oil-workers. I researched the story and learned that while Nigeria is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States, the inhabitants of the oil-producing Niger Delta region live in poverty. So, I travelled to Nigeria to try to meet the militants, and start my next film,” says the filmmaker.

But what is the position of Ateke Tom on the essence of the struggle? he shares his thoughts on some of the issues revolving around the situation with the E4PR team, with which this reporter visited his Lagos home.

“We fought because we couldn’t bear the continued injustice any longer,” he says, as he opens up to the interviewer in his tastefully furnished Ajah home, close to the highbrow Lekki in Lagos.

“We decided to take up the struggle because if we didn’t, our children would face the same problems and blame us for doing nothing about it. The situation was very unfair and something other than talk, which had hitherto fallen on deaf ears, had to be done.” He speaks calmly in pidgin, his expression almost hard to decipher behind gold rimmed dark shades.

“Of course, for now, amnesty is in place, and that’s why we have decided to give peace a chance in order for the government and others concerned, to redress the wrongs done by many years of untold hardships and pains.”

Now living as a free man, after embracing the amnesty, he spends most of his days attending to guests, friends, business associates and the like, who throng his home daily.

Life in the creeks, however, had its fun moments, which he relives with nostalgia.

“Life in the camp was fun,” he says to the guests, as he calls one of the boys to play us a video. “Sometimes in a bid to relieve tension and to boost morale, we used to have sessions where we ‘gyrated’ to drum beats and singing. Even the soldiers (Joint Task Force (JTF) meant to combat the ‘freedom fighters’) afar off could hear our voices and singing from deep within the hearts of the creeks but could do nothing about it’; here he manages a smile.

“Some other times, we had girls, lots of them, coming in from the nearby university, who came of their own volition to make the camp lively. If I was indeed a bad person who cut off human heads and killed at will as some would have you believe, would that have happened?” He has worked himself up to a state of excitement now as he remembers some of the unfounded stories about him.

“I was made out to be a beast, a terror and an unfeeling machine, who mowed people down whenever I felt like. But even you have seen for yourself the kind of person I am,” he looked across everyone in the living room.

Indeed, it was clear, from the video recordings and interviews conducted on him in camp, that Ateke, has an amiable side that attracts people to him. And as described in one of the editions of The Nation newspaper, the ex-militant, or ‘freedom fighter’ as he prefers to be called, is a Nollywood friendly lion.

During this reporter’s visit to his home, a number of Nollywood stars were spotting having pleasant time with him. Interestingly, some of the videos of activities in the creek were shot by notable Nollywood filmmakers and actors.

But it appears that the bargains for amnesty have not finally been met; an indication that film sequels on the struggle may still be forthcoming. The amnesty programme, he said, has not finally settled the grievances that led to the insurgency in the first place. ‘They (government) said they were going to train the boys and give them good jobs; up till now, not much has been done.

“In my own case, after having been granted amnesty, why then am I still being hunted? My house in Okrika was raided and bombarded by soldiers who were looking for Ateke Tom. I used to have a lot of dogs there too, but one day, they came and shot all of them, because when they didn’t see me, they assumed I had turned to one of them and decided to kill them all.” There was laughter across the room.